Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This post is 9 days old and not 1 reply from any family at Brookland. There’s your answer OP.

There's only 100-120 kids per grade - there also just aren't as many people who can speak to it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This post is 9 days old and not 1 reply from any family at Brookland. There’s your answer OP.

Anonymous wrote:This post is 9 days old and not 1 reply from any family at Brookland. There’s your answer OP.

Anonymous wrote:Beautiful building but that’s about it. Most kids in that neighborhood are going to DCI. The school is seriously underenrolled. Very low numbers but perhaps your kid can get a good amount of attention from teachers. But where does BMS feed into HS? I would personally leave it alone but DCI is very crowded. Middle School options are very limited. I would also seriously give Sojourner Truth a try. It seems like it’s becoming an alternative to DCI.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is Brookland Middle School like these days?

About the same as far as I can tell.

Yup. And only about 53% in boundary versus Wells for instance with 68% in boundary.

I don't think 53% is really that bad, and Brookland Middle is near ITDS and Latin, and not that far from BASIS. It also attracts OOB kids who live pretty close by (kids living IB for Langdon and Langley, Wheatley and Browne). If you want to criticize, criticize the math scores-- they're terrible-- but the IB% stats don't trouble me.

To counter that Wells is close to Latin too. And some of the boundary for Wells is really close to Latin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is Brookland Middle School like these days?

About the same as far as I can tell.

Yup. And only about 53% in boundary versus Wells for instance with 68% in boundary.

I don't think 53% is really that bad, and Brookland Middle is near ITDS and Latin, and not that far from BASIS. It also attracts OOB kids who live pretty close by (kids living IB for Langdon and Langley, Wheatley and Browne). If you want to criticize, criticize the math scores-- they're terrible-- but the IB% stats don't trouble me.

Anonymous wrote:
It’s a little crazy that Dunbar is the inbound HS for Brookland. It’s not exactly “in the neighborhood”.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beautiful building but that’s about it. Most kids in that neighborhood are going to DCI. The school is seriously underenrolled. Very low numbers but perhaps your kid can get a good amount of attention from teachers. But where does BMS feed into HS? I would personally leave it alone but DCI is very crowded. Middle School options are very limited. I would also seriously give Sojourner Truth a try. It seems like it’s becoming an alternative to DCI.

Dunbar I think.

I think in time and with the right leader success is possible, much like for Stuart-Hobson. Will it happen? I dunno.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beautiful building but that’s about it. Most kids in that neighborhood are going to DCI. The school is seriously underenrolled. Very low numbers but perhaps your kid can get a good amount of attention from teachers. But where does BMS feed into HS? I would personally leave it alone but DCI is very crowded. Middle School options are very limited. I would also seriously give Sojourner Truth a try. It seems like it’s becoming an alternative to DCI.

Dunbar I think.

I think in time and with the right leader success is possible, much like for Stuart-Hobson. Will it happen? I dunno.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Beautiful building but that’s about it. Most kids in that neighborhood are going to DCI. The school is seriously underenrolled. Very low numbers but perhaps your kid can get a good amount of attention from teachers. But where does BMS feed into HS? I would personally leave it alone but DCI is very crowded. Middle School options are very limited. I would also seriously give Sojourner Truth a try. It seems like it’s becoming an alternative to DCI.

Dunbar I think.

I think in time and with the right leader success is possible, much like for Stuart-Hobson. Will it happen? I dunno.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is Brookland Middle School like these days?

About the same as far as I can tell.

Yup. And only about 53% in boundary versus Wells for instance with 68% in boundary.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is Brookland Middle School like these days?

About the same as far as I can tell.

Anonymous wrote:What is Brookland Middle School like these days?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My children attend a nearby DCPS that feeds to a different middle school and I could not help but notice some of our strongest 5th graders chose Brookland rather than their IB middle school. I think Brookland is on the way up.

I would choose Brookland over our IB middle school (McKinley).

Me too, but I don't think the difference is really that big. I would do McKinley of your kid is really into math and science, because they can take 9th grade classes at Tech.

I feel the same way--I think it comes down to whether your kid wants a bigger school v. smaller, and is more into math/science. But I'm also going to be watching to see how the school does with the interim and then new principal. I think both schools have a lot of potential.

Maybe, but doubtful. My DD is in MS and we've been hearing the same old since Brookland MS opened. "Lots of potential"..."maybe it will get better by the time our kids get to MS..." Listen, it probably won't. Even if your kids are in PK, have a plan B (private, move) for later ES, MS years. Your charter or DCPS might be great for your kid(s) in PK, K, even 1st or 2nd, but often the wheels start to come off as kids get older in many of these schools in terms of educational rigor.

I hear you, but I don't think this is a unique thing to Ward 5 schools, or DC schools in general. If our school stops meeting the needs of our kids, we will address that, of course. That problem can happen anywhere, even in tony neighborhood schools. But, I've been hearing that our IB is good until K, or good until 2nd, or whatever since we enrolled in PK3, but we've had a good experience so far (not perfect, but no big issues). That may change, but I know parents in the upper grades who are also happy, so I'm not going to let the fear of the unknown, or the fear of 2 years' old bad test scores drive my decision over my kids' current experience. It's harder to say that in MS because you are changing schools no matter what, of course. But I think there's a difference between keeping options open keeping plan Bs in mind, on one hand, and assuming that the middle schools will not be an option and making moves now to avoid them, on the other.

The test scores are 2 years old but you should realize that the scores will be much worst if the kids took it today. DC suffered huge learning losses with closing schools so long as proven by the data. And those affected the most were the lower performing students. The achievement gap will be the greatest it’s ever been in the past 10-15 years.

The pandemic has made things worst, not better. Many of these kids will never catch up and the city will deal with the ramifications of this for years to come.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

My children attend a nearby DCPS that feeds to a different middle school and I could not help but notice some of our strongest 5th graders chose Brookland rather than their IB middle school. I think Brookland is on the way up.

I would choose Brookland over our IB middle school (McKinley).

Me too, but I don't think the difference is really that big. I would do McKinley of your kid is really into math and science, because they can take 9th grade classes at Tech.

I feel the same way--I think it comes down to whether your kid wants a bigger school v. smaller, and is more into math/science. But I'm also going to be watching to see how the school does with the interim and then new principal. I think both schools have a lot of potential.

Maybe, but doubtful. My DD is in MS and we've been hearing the same old since Brookland MS opened. "Lots of potential"..."maybe it will get better by the time our kids get to MS..." Listen, it probably won't. Even if your kids are in PK, have a plan B (private, move) for later ES, MS years. Your charter or DCPS might be great for your kid(s) in PK, K, even 1st or 2nd, but often the wheels start to come off as kids get older in many of these schools in terms of educational rigor.

I hear you, but I don't think this is a unique thing to Ward 5 schools, or DC schools in general. If our school stops meeting the needs of our kids, we will address that, of course. That problem can happen anywhere, even in tony neighborhood schools. But, I've been hearing that our IB is good until K, or good until 2nd, or whatever since we enrolled in PK3, but we've had a good experience so far (not perfect, but no big issues). That may change, but I know parents in the upper grades who are also happy, so I'm not going to let the fear of the unknown, or the fear of 2 years' old bad test scores drive my decision over my kids' current experience. It's harder to say that in MS because you are changing schools no matter what, of course. But I think there's a difference between keeping options open keeping plan Bs in mind, on one hand, and assuming that the middle schools will not be an option and making moves now to avoid them, on the other.